Bananas, Money and Monkeys

 Assalamu Alaykum

Jack Ma, the founder of AliBaba and the richest man in China once said:

"If you put bananas and money in front of monkeys, the monkeys will choose bananas because the monkeys don't know that money can buy a lot of bananas."

It’s a good analogy actually to demonstrate our current state today.

In the same way, if you offered the average person a steady job, or a business to run, most will choose the job because they don’t know (or don’t believe) that the business can make way more money and give you more free time than a job in the long run.

Obviously, we’re not saying all people with a job are monkeys - but one of the reasons behind this is because we simply have not been trained to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities.

The polar opposite in fact.

We associate having a job with success, with safety, with comfort. It allows us to buy a house and a nice car.

We associate a business with risk, being broke, losing everything. It’s dangerous. The opposite of safe!

We all have a horror story in the back of our mind of someone we know who failed in their business.

Whereas we presume people are doing well in life, based on the company they work for.

Even though the reality is that jobs have not been ‘safe’ for years.

It’s no-one’s fault. It’s just the way the system is designed.

They need to serve their own interests, of course. If everyone was independent and free, who would do the work?

Therefore the programming begins when we’re young.

What’s the dream we’re sold when we’re at school? To work hard and get a good job!

Only those that dropped out early or perhaps weren’t the most academic would ‘hustle’ and make a few extra bits of cash here and there, we think.

That’s why we then find it hard to break ourselves free from the steady safety of a secure salary, for the daring, exciting but risky opportunity.

Even if we’re tempted, we talk ourselves out of it.

Then we get married, get a house, have kids.

Even if we could afford to take the plunge once upon a time, now we definitely can’t. It’s far too risky.

"If only I did it when I was younger."

The opportunity has passed you by.

"I’m too old for all this now."

Of course, it doesn’t have to be like this.

All of this is just a story you’ve been telling yourself.

It’s never too late to get started.

Don’t choose bananas anymore.

Choose money. Choose freedom. Choose impact.